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Wednesday, May 25, 2011

The Rising Cost of Delivery

Just the other day we had a call from a very nice lady. She wanted to send flowers to her daughter that lives here in town. We told her that would not be a problem and we would be glad to help pick out the perfect gift. She asked, "What do you charge for delivery?" We stated our local delivery price of $8.99. She then let me know that she had no problem paying good money for flowers but refused to pay that for delivery. We hate to loose business, it's just not good to turn folks away. In this case we had no choice, in order to keep our business running, delivery is something we must charge for. So here is a little run down on why we charge what we charge.

We cover over 884 square miles of delivery area. We deliver to Moweaqua, Dalton City, LaPlace, Blue Mound, Maroa, and even Illiopolis. This is a very large delivery area. We have a really nice formula that we plug in all of our information into and it spits us out a nice figure for delivery charges. It takes into account:

Drivers Salary (no matter how hard we try, the van just refuses to drive itself).

Insurance

Price Per Gallon - Miles Per Gallon

Vehicle Costs ~ Oil changes, new tires, brakes, and so on.

Vehicles worth and resale value (remember they are not worth as much the second they roll off that lot).

So when you figure a trip to say Illiopolis, you not only have to figure the gas prices you also have to figure out the salary you are paying the person behind the wheel. Being a small shop we may even have to wait to deliver other orders until the van returns. Or in some cases we will send out a second vehicle for in town deliveries. The cost increases when you are using more then one driver and vehicle.

This all being said, and probably boring you to death. We take a long hard look at how we charge for things. It would be easy to offer "free" delivery, but this would effect the cost of our other products. That "free" has to be made up somewhere. We believe that the cost of the things you purchase from us should not be inflated to cover delivery costs and the likes.

We love delivering! It is the best part of our day to see the big smiles and hear the compliments when someone receives our flowers. Delivery is a convenience. You do not have to take time out of your busy day, use your gas, and take your lunch hour to run flowers to your loved one. Let us do that for you, it is our job and we enjoy it so much.

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Have you longed to work in a flower shop? Dreamed of being surrounded by the glorious scents, textures, and beautiful blooms? Well my friend here is your chance to see the ups and downs of our little shop. In this blog you will find a little about family, a sampling of our work, a few tangent rants, and a whole lot about flowers! Step through the gates and into The Secret Garden. Follow us on our journey and we promise to keep you entertained, informed, and above all else give you time to stop and smell the roses.